Pro Bono for Brooklyn: Our Partnership with Cleary Gottlieb

June 3, 2016

Here at Brooklyn Community Foundation, with our community leadership initiatives, strategic grantmaking, growing donor advised fund program, and a staff of just eight, like many nonprofits we rely on the generosity of for-profit institutions’ pro bono support.

Over the past year, we’ve been especially fortunate to partner with the firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP which has assisted us in refining our operations and employment practices under the expert oversight of associate Sheri P. Adler, who before becoming a lawyer worked in the nonprofit field. The Foundation’s team also includes associates Naura Keiser, Brendan Cohen, Megan Prunella, and Bobby Underwood, council Kathleen Emberger, and supervising partner Benet O’ Reilly. Their work with us is just one way Cleary Gottlieb serves nonprofits in Brooklyn and beyond.

According to the firm’s Director of Pro Bono Practice, Jennifer L. Kroman, last year their U.S.-based lawyers dedicated more than 63,000 hours to pro bono matters, assisting more than 400 clients.

“Since its founding, Cleary Gottlieb has believed that the practice of law is a privilege, one that carries with it the responsibility to apply its lawyers’ talents for the benefit of underserved individuals and the nonprofit organizations that serve these individuals. It has been our pleasure to assist Brooklyn Community Foundation this past year with an array of legal issues to enable the Foundation continue its work in providing grants to nonprofits in Brooklyn that provide vital programs and services to Brooklyn residents.”

In addition to providing their legal expertise, Cleary Gottlieb staff is also supporting the Foundation’s work to bolster Brooklyn’s nonprofit sector through our Brooklyn Accelerator initiative. Clearly Gottlieb associates have attended our Board Training & Matching workshops, and Partner Erika Nijenhuis is volunteering to serve on the selection committee of our 2016 Spark Prize for Brooklyn nonprofits. In 2015, the firm also generously supported our Invest in Youth initiative.

If your nonprofit organization could use expert legal assistance, we recommend connecting with the Lawyers Alliance for New York, of which Cleary Gottlieb is a member. Through the Lawyers Alliance, we’ve also been able to access assistance on trademarking and the use of advocacy to support our mission. Learn more at http://www.lany.org/nonprofits.php.